The genesis of Rimbaud Musical ~ La Rencontre de deux Géants - Partie 1~ (ENGLISH)

日本語版はこちら。

On 5 March, I posted Richard Charest's interview about "Rimbaud Musical" (See here). 

And here, I posted my English translation of the text written by Céline that explains the genesis of the"Rimbaud Musical", which I happened to encounter about a year ago. This beautiful text made me intrigued with the musical and the poet Arthur Rimbaud as a whole. And eventually this text brought me to the "petite interview". Some of the parts are mentioned in my interview too but here, you can find more detailed and interesting story about how this musical has evolved from the scratch by the two talented people (Richard Charest and Arnaud Kerane).  

Sorry for a bit clumsy translation (and probably there would be wrong translations) ... but hopefully you can explore and enjoy the fascinating story of the genesis of "Rimbaud Musical" as I did. 

The first half of this text is mainly about the creation of the musical and the latter half is mostly about the casting, so I divided into the two parts.  (Part 2: Casting is posted here.)

Thank you Céline,  for giving me an opportunity to discover this wonderful musical. 

You can find the original french text here (it's on the official web site of "Rimbaud Musical"). 

So, here we go!

The Encounter of Two Giants (Part I)

"I write essential words that bring supreme melodies"

CHRONOLOGY OF A SIGN OF SUCCESS

The genesis of this musical goes way back!

Rimbaud really came into the life of Richard Charest in 1995 during a workshop of poetic creation about the "Dormeur du Val" when he was at the Laval University in Quebec. It was meant to cross his path again!

On 26 June 1999, an encounter which determined the creation of this project happened. Both Richard Charest and Arnaud Kerane were selected for the 13th meetings of Astaffort by Francis Cabrel, Arnaud, the Parisien, as a lyricist and, Richard, the Québécois, as a lyricist, composer and performer. During these 10 days, many exchanges (happened) .... Arnaud listened to the songs of Mr Charest on CD while Richard discovered the texts of Mr Kerane and one of them literally blew his mind : (the song about) Mrs. Vitalie Rimbaud which tries to illustrate the relationship between a bad son and his mother. Arnaud was actually passionate about the life of Arthur Rimbaud. Already... The two buddies separated from each other on July 3, 1999 without any certainty to meet again. 

However, Richard contacted Arnaud again in February 2000 when he sang in the cast of Notre Dame de Paris. A year later, he recorded "Vitalie Rimbaud" at Studios Coppélia in the 15th arrondissement, for his album. At this point, Arnaud lent him a biography of Rimbaud.

It was not until December 2004, that they met at Seven's café at Ponthieu Street in Paris in order that Richard exposed the idea which germinated in his mind for some time to Arnaud. What if they wrote a musical? But it's not a mere musical, no! Rather, a musical that would address universal themes (ambition, violence... ). Arnaud hesitated, and got frightened by the magnitude of work ahead of them. It only took a few minutes that Richard reassured him. That day, he has just returned from Quebec, and reported the little findings which had been in warm slumber at his mother's home. The famous biography that had been lent 3 years before! That book was on the table between him and the one with whom he wanted to embark on this adventure at all costs. He already knew what direction he wanted this musical to go. Universal themes, of course, a little bit as in the life of Rimbaud... A knowing... look... They understood each other... Arnaud asked doubtfully: "But there's no such thing, right?" And Richard snapped back: "Well, of course not! (If there is something like that, I would know it!)". The adventure of Rimbaud Musical has begun!

From 3 January 2005, they embarked on reading biographies and started writing lyrics ... Vitalie has already existed ... Then followed by "Charleville, mon soupier" (whose music was composed by Richard in Seoul during the tour of Notre Dame de Paris in January 2005) ...

Arnaud Kerane states that, in the biography of Rimbaud, "there are a lot of answers for the songs" due to his intense life and exceptional career. It's about one of the greatest people, literary genius, the meteor... The references they used are very diverse in order to have an objective view about what this great poet was like (from the view of Vitalie Rimbaud, Georges Izambard and Mathilde Verlaine) .

In this clip, walking around the places closely connected to the life of Rimbaud,

 Arnaud explains why they chose Rimbaud as a subject of musical.

After that, Richard explains about each character (in French).

You can find the English transcript of this clip on this blog (This person is indeed incredible!!).

Reading a number of books was added to a real pilgrimage in the deep Ardennes, on the footsteps of Arthur Rimbaud. Charleville, Ducale square, the banks of the Meuse river. The impregnation is complete.

To the question that "How is a song born?", Arnaud Kerane gives the following answer: "For Charleville, mon soupir, Fils du soleil or other songs, we always start from the existing information and then let the inspiration guide us. We correct, we try out, we remove, we rewrite ... We let it sleep a little ... You see ... A song will never come to an end actually. But we say "stop" at some point."

The result is here! The titles filled with emotions, magic, which condense the life that Rimbaud had so perfectly.

Followed up by songs, scenarios, demo recording, documents, appointments ... Richard Charest explains that sometimes, there are "negative responses that make you want to continue and perhaps (such responses) expect you more."

In order to present the project to which they are deeply committed and to give a more concrete vision of their work, Richard decided to present a series of showcases in Paris. First, private show cases for professionals which will be held on 7 June 2007 at Théâtre Comédia and on 25th, at Espace Cardin; then for the general public, as part of the Musical Festival at XXème théâtre, again in Paris, on 20, 21 and 22 July 2007. An excerpt from the upcoming show, 14 songs, one hour in another world, a world apart ... that of Arthur Rimbaud ... A simple reading (lecture) that reveals so much ...  The two got warm and  unanimously enthusiastic reception. 

After 30 months of working, 2 acts, 25 songs, 46 scenes ... The work continues ...

(To be continued...)